Now let’s look at A Most Wanted Man, also based on a le Carre book. This film is fast-paced and filled with intensity and action, but easy to follow. Is it le Carre’s novel writing that has gotten less muddled and involved? Well, maybe. Is it because we, as an audience, are more prepared for convoluted plots, with more and more spy action thrillers being made (The Bourne series, the recent Bondmovies, etc.)? Could be, but I think it has more to do with how the book is adapted…how expert the screenwriter is at adapting the twists and turns on the screen.

Wes Anderson is not my favorite film writer/director working today. I find most of his movies pointless. They all seem to share a like vision but I guess I just do not understand or care about that vision. I can see what he is trying to do and I don’t want to bother. My favorite film of Anderson’s, The Darjeeling Limited, was less inane (in my opinion) than most of his films. But if there is one thing all of Andersons’ films share, it is that they are highly quirky. This might sound like I mean it as a bad thing – I do not. I like quirky. I just usually do not like Anderson’s brand of quirk. But in The Grand Budapest Hotel, the quirkiness works. Mostly everything works.

The best part ofThe Grand Budapest Hotelis the world Anderson creates. It’s unique, visually charming, and highly imaginative.

Set in the near future (specific year unnamed), Theodore is a sad sack. His marriage just broke up, he does not want to go out or do things, like hang out with friends, and his day job is writing personal letters (love letters, thank you letters, etc.) for other people who are just as pathetic as he is. So, what does he do to try to change things up some in his life: he buys a new computer with a personal, talking, interactive, emotive operating system (OS). And this OS changes his life.